May 2006
Television news in the United States is facing a significant turning point with the big three television networks having lost or replaced their star newscasters.
The “Big Three” anchors, NBC’s Tom Brokaw, CBS’s Dan Rather, and ABC’s Peter Jennings, had been reporting the news nationwide for more than 20 years since early 1980’s. The almost simultaneous bowing out of the star anchors, who vied for supremacy also in the news coverage of 9/11 and the war in Iraq, made us know that an era in American journalism had ended.
From an age of radio in the 1930’s to an age of television in 1950’s and 60’s, network news had been evolved along with emergence of a number of news anchors who read the news to the people. However, network news is now entering a new age with new media environments developing such as emergence of cable television and online news and diversified forms of access to the news. Weblogs where anybody can gather and send information via the Internet and Internet broadcasting called Webcast are burgeoning. Meanwhile, the number of viewers of conventional network news keeps decreasing, almost halved from 52 million in 1980 to 27 million in 2005. Fierce ratings competitions, streamlining of companies, and distrust of the media by the public are accelerating the downward trend, and network news have difficulty surviving.
What role does network news play in current American society and what discussions are being made regarding styles of news reporting and roles of anchors? The article reviews network news at a transition time based on movements surrounding media journalism in the United States and reports compiled by research organizations.